Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images
By: EFE
Tuesday, October 22
Russia accuses US of creating multinational military force in Black Sea
The Ministry of Defense of Russia accused the United States of creating a multinational military force in the Black Sea near the Russian coast, which Moscow considers a “destabilizing factor” in the region bordering Ukraine.
“These are unforeseen actions by US forces creating a multinational group of Armed Forces in the vicinity of the Russian borders,” said General Igor Konashenkov, Russian military spokesman, in an official statement.
Another objective of the increase in the military presence of the NATO countries in the Black Sea would be “the military control of the territory of Ukraine.”
Konashenkov denounced the presence in Georgian ports of the “USS Mount Whitney”, flagship of the US Sixth Fleet , from the destruc tor “USS Porter”, which entered the Black Sea at the end of October, and the tanker “John Lenthall”.
that contingents from Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania will participate in the allied maneuvers and that it is “evident” that they seek to study a possible “theater of operations in case Kiev prepares a military solution in the southeast” of the country, in allusion to Donbas.
In addition, it reported on the flights carried out by two strategic bombers B-1B of the US Air Force, which crossed the skies of the area about 100 kilometers from the Russian border.
Recently, the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigú, considered possible “any provocation” by NATO , which he linked to attempts to test Russia’s defense systems in the Black Sea, and advanced that the Russian fleet will also hold exercises in the area.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the reinforcement of aerospace defense in the face of NATO’s advance towards the borders of the country and the increased presence of the allied fleet in the Baltic and the Black Sea.
“Now, as you know, a US ship it has entered the Black Sea. We can look at it quickly with binoculars or through the peephole of the corresponding defense systems “, he commented.
On November 4, on the occasion of the national holiday, Putin visited the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea , which proclaimed “it will always be” Russian.
The United States on Monday urged Russia to be “clear” about its latest moves in the border with Ukraine, where, according to Kiev, there are almost 90, 000 concentrated Russian soldiers.
Last April Russia also concentrated a large number of troops in the area, although after criticism from Ukraine and NATO about a possible military intervention Moscow withdrew the bulk of these units.
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